Wearable audio output devices having noise cancelling capabilities have steadily increased in popularity. Modern headphones with ANR (sometimes referred to as active noise cancelling (ANC)) capabilities attenuate sounds external to the headphones to provide an immersive audio experience to the user. However, a user may want to selectively set a level of attenuation of external sounds to suit particular use cases. For instance, there may be certain situations when a user wearing the headphones with ANR turned on may want or need to set the ANR to a low level to increase situational awareness. On the other hand, there may be situations when the user may want the ANR set to a high level to attenuate external sounds. While most ANR audio devices allow the user to manually turn ANR on or turn off, or even manually set a level of the ANR, this does not provide an optimal user experience. Accordingly, methods for automatic selective ANR control as well as apparatuses and systems configured to implement these methods are desired.